Um, Commissioner Re is going to lead us ination and pledge of allegiance. Let's pray. Our father in heaven father, we just thank you so much for another day of life. Thank you, Father, for being with each and every one of us. Father, again, we can't thank you enough
for this rain you sent our way. Just pray you continue to send us more. And Father, I just pray for this meeting today. Okay, dear Lord, I pray you have your hand upon everyone in this room. I pray for this board, dear Lord, that you'll give us wisdom to make good decisions and good choices as to what's
better for Bradford County. And Father, again, I just want to lift up Miss Doy and her family to you. Father, I just pray you'll please have your hand upon that family in this this time of tragedy. I just pray you'll watch over them, comfort them, and um we just leave
it in your hands. Father, thank you again for everything you do for us. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all. >> I'd like to make some corrections to our agenda items. um the public hearing that we were going to have on the zoning change issue um dealing with Z25-10 um there was at our zoning meeting I did
not clearly hear Commissioner Thompson so the vote was 3 to2 Mr. Thompson and myself >> Mr. Commissioner Thompson and myself. Okay. So, I wanted to correct that and also um
um correction to >> how was motion? the the motion was um to deny the reszoning change for the Z25-10 and when I called for the vote in favor
uh I thought I heard Mr. Thompson was abstained voting against three voted to reject >> against the motion. >> Yes. >> And when you say descent, you mean desending to the motion. >> Correct.
>> Mr. Thompson and myself >> voted against the motion. >> It's been clarified. >> Okay. Um the other correction is to um or
change rather after we have the library presentation then we'll uh we will have a presentation from Margot Deanna on the food for kids and then item uh eight um there's correction to the the actual
number So a a correction that would be made to uh A1 and two. Is that correct? Okay. Okay. Um at this time we have one public uh opponent,
Mr. Strong. Good morning. >> I know you asked to me. Um, I have a couple things that uh I want to say. Uh recently I was out of the country
on a much needed vacation and um even though I was out of the country, I was uh advocating on the count of graphic account. Um
and I went to uh Turk Cos and also to the Bahamas. And in both of those uh countries, I went to the tourism
uh board and talked to their um representatives to see if we could uh get someone uh uh correlation to come to Bradford County. And in both
cases um it was very positive conversation. So um we may have a representative coming to Bradford County
um from Turks and Cos and to from the ministry of the Bahamas. Um and I think that that's a good thing. Um, I have been in contact with the Ministry
of Tourism since I came back um from the Bahamas about Bradford County. So, that's a good thing. But um
I on the other hand the seven miles from Brack County with the 11,000 new homes disturbed me and that was something that I wanted to talk to you guys about before I left and I didn't get an
opportunity. What are we going to do about this growth that's coming in? We talked about this and nobody believed me. Nobody believed me. Chris Dry called me a lie.
>> Excuse me. >> And I strong. M strong. We're We're We're not going to badge. One of the things that we're asking >> I'm not bad. I'm not bad anymore. >> We're not going to demean anybody. >> I'm not I'm not demeaning anybody. >> She's going to do enough of our meetings to know the guidelines.
>> I'm not demeing anybody. We're going to not argue. >> I'm not arguing with anybody. >> State your comments. >> State your comment and and be done. >> I'm just saying I brought in the information. I said what I had to say and
>> thank you, M. Thank you >> because >> Thank you, Miss R. >> You guys appreciate your Thank you. Please take your seat. Please take your seat.
Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> We give other people. >> We cannot be disrupted to the meeting. >> Thank you. Yes, ma'am. You continue to talk. You
will have to. You're disturbing the meeting. Okay. All right. Moving on. Um, at this time, we have a U ask for a motion for the approval of the consent agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve the
consent agenda. >> Motion by Commissioner Ready. Second. Second by Commissioner Norry. Any further portion discussion? Not all in favor by the sign. I I >> Any opposed? I vote.
>> And up next, we're going to have presentation from the library. Kim Crawford. Morning. Thank you. I think he dropped. >> No, that's yours. >> Good morning, Madam Chair,
commissioners. Thanks for having me today. Um before I start, I would like to introduce um Jerry Kaiser. He is our new co-op director. Um, I hope you don't mind me bringing him with me today. I wanted him to meet you guys or at least say hello. So,
and he will be working with me in the Crawford County Public Library. So, I'm very excited. His first day was yesterday. Um, actually, I'm here today to talk about our Christmas event that we usually have every year. Um, we're doing a little doing a little bit different this year. We're still going to have games and prizes from vendors of
the community. We actually have 31 people that's from the community that businesses that's going to be participating. um is free to everyone. Kuanas will be cooking hot dogs again, 4 to 500 hot dogs. Um the thing we're
doing different this year, instead of it being like a Christmas carnival, we're calling it a Christmas trunk or treat. So, everyone that's participating, they will have their vehicle, the trunk or whatever, and they're decorating it Christmy. They may dress up Christmas as
Christmas elves or whatever. And they're going to be doing game surprises like always. So, um, and, um, I wanted to, I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought. Um, I'd like to invite you guys as always. Um, it's always nice
to have you guys there. I know Mr. Redick came last year. I think a few of you guys were out of town, but, um, this is our biggest event of the year, so we get really excited about. Um, we usually have anywhere from three, 400. Sometimes the first year was 700. I mean, it it's
you never know. Can you believe it's raining today of all days? We I mean we haven't had rain and today it's raining. So, let's pray that the weather is good because we're closing at 2 and we're going to start setting up in the parking lot 3 to 4 and it's at 5:30 tonight.
5:30 to 7:30 and we are having a special visitor from North from the North Pole, too. So, and we have little elves that's going to be working. So, um but yeah, I' I'd love to see you guys there. So, um do you guys have any questions? just
>> but thank you for your good job. Oh, >> you're welcome. Is there anything that we can do? >> Oh, you can always come and and work at any table that you would like. So, we have plenty of um things games going on. The library is going to be doing some um
games. We have a vault team that's part of our team group. It's is called Vault and they'll be running most of the games and stuff. They are the best. I tell you, they have really helped us out a lot. So, um, but yeah, we always love to have you help. Um, especially the ticket
table. That's the most busiest table. It's handing out the bags with the tickets and explaining to everyone how things go. So, yeah, always. >> Yeah. I just >> I just have one comment. Um, my son actually was at the library a couple weeks ago and he came by my house and
he's like, "Dad, do you know how nice the library is?" I said, "Clay, I've been telling you how nice the library is." And I it got me thinking, I wonder how many people in Bradford County don't really realize how nice of a library we have right here in Bradford County. And uh it's and like I said, my son talked
to me for probably 30 minutes about the library, how nice it was, how well it was run. >> Um so, you know, like I said, it just got me thinking. I wonder how many people in Bradford County has never even been in the library. But but y'all do a fantastic job and I really do appreciate it. >> Yeah, it happens a lot. A lot of people
come in and say it's their first time or whatever. So, yeah. And we get a lot of compliments on our library, you know, as far as um big nice. And we do decorate for most of all the seasons, too. So, we get a lot of compliments on our decorations and stuff, too. Yeah. It took us a good two weeks to get prepared
for this one because December 2nd came pretty fast from Thanksgiving. So, >> but um Yes. >> Well, and you and you and the staff make it very pleasant. whenever you go in there, you're very I mean, you you greet people and so I thank y'all for for
setting that that up like that. It it really means a lot to people. >> Thank you. I have a wonderful staff. They work very hard. So, and I think retail trained me as far as all the years I worked for that as customer service. So, yeah, as soon as they walk in their door, we're like, "Hello, how are you today?" Mr. We know their last
name or Mrs. Know their last name. So, yes, it's a really great atmosphere. Thank you so much. I appreciate all the great comments. >> I'd love to see you guys there tonight. I hope too. So, >> Madam Chair, >> thank you. >> I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Kaiser via Zoom and then we had coffee a couple
weeks ago. Welcome aboard. We're glad to have you. Uh Mr. Kaiser comes from Delaware. >> Delaware. Do you mind details? >> I'm I'm Jerry Kaiser. I'm the new director of the New River uh Public Library Cooperative. Um my office is in
Bradford County Library. Um, I've been librarian for 30 years. Um, and I was in Florida and went back to Delaware and now back in Florida. So, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to help. Anything that anybody needs, any of the library staff or or you all if you need anything, just
let me know and I'll be glad to see what I can do for you. >> Thank you and welcome aboard. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Kim. >> All right. >> Y'all have a great day. >> You too. Okay. And um we have a
presentation coming now from the um for kids. Miss Margo Dana. >> Madam Chair, if I if I may, I'm sorry to interrupt, but uh we have an issue with the uh the planning and zoning item from
the planning and zoning board. Uh after conferring with legal counsel, we will need to read the ordinance um by short title and then have a public comment call for public comments, have a public hearing and then a motion and a vote. So
at this time I'd like to ask Mr. Andrews to to read the ordinance. >> My apologies. Uh this is the ordinance the resolution the board denied its own board meeting but for legal purposes we're going to go ahead and read the ordinance. Uh this after read will ask
public comments for motion to vote. So this is a an ordinance of Bradford County, Florida, amending ordinance 96-07 Bradford County Land Development Regul Regulations as amended relating to an amendment to the official zoning atlas of the Bracker County Land Development Regulations as amended pursuant to an
application by the property armstead acres providing for reszoning from residential single family-1 RSF-1 to rural residential of certain lands in the uninorporated limits of Bradford County, Florida, providing severity, repealing all ordinances in conflict and providing for infected date. And for clarity, this is Bradford County parcel
number 04216-0000100 which is owned by Breitburn Properties. And again, just for clarity, this is the ordinance that uh to the resolution or denied at the planning and zoning board. We need to ask for a public comments a motion to vote. >> Are there any public comments?
Hearing none, a call for motion. I make a motion that we deny the uh Z25-10. Motion to deny by Commissioner Rick. It's a second to that motion. >> Second. Second by Commissioner Andrews.
Any further discussion, questions? All in favor? Say I. >> I. >> And oppose. Nay. >> I. Okay. That's three to two. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um you can come back.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Con just might need help figuring out how to Thank you. >> Good morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Margot Dana. I'm the executive director for the Food for Kids Backpack Program of North Florida.
I'm here to share with you a little bit of information about our program and how it functions here in Bradford County. So, first and foremost, for kids backpack program was founded back in 2010 by Jennifer Moore. She brought pizza and cupcakes to her daughter's
third grade class on a Monday morning to Georgia Elementary School in Gainesville. And she realized that some of the kids in the class were taking second and third slices of pizza before others had finished their first. So, she asked the teacher about it. and the teacher said, "It's Monday. These
children probably haven't eaten since lunch at school on a Friday." She was shocked to learn how large of an issue child food insecurity is um right here in our own backyard. And so she was called to act right then and there and founded our program back in 2010 with
eight students at that one school. This is an actual photo and her original Facebook posts from March of 2010 of the first week serving eight students there at elementary school. Prior to CO, all
of our schools that we worked with had pantries inside the school and volunteers would go to the school, manage that pantry inventory and pack bags for those students to take home with them every Friday um every single week of the school year.
Fast forward to today, we are now in 69 schools across four counties, Latcha, Levy, Dixie, and Bradford County. And that includes six schools right here in Bradford County. So before we get further into food for kids and how our program works, look at
what food insecurity means. Um, and so the USDA defined food insecurity as a lack of access um to enough food for an active healthy life for all members of a given household um or limited or uncertain access to um adequate food. So
what we often say is I'll tell you a personal example. My husband when I first started in this position asked me if I really thought that many children in our community had zero food in their household whatsoever. nothing in the cabinets, nothing in the fridge. And I
told him, I think there are more students than we realize in that position, but more than that, I think of myself as a mom of two young children and the very difficult choices that I would have to make if I were in that position about whether I'm going to pay
my rent or utilities or I'm going to purchase food for my family that weekend. So, childhood food insecurity um has a lot of adverse effects both in the short term and in the long term. Those include increased vulnerability, potential for
long-term consequences, um impaired cognitive development and and and lower academic performance and of course um health concerns that can pop up now but also well into their future.
So according to um Feeding America's map the meal gap data and this is available online publicly you can drill down to your own county you can look at the country you can look at individual states um you can you know look at this
data for yourself um but this is the most recent data data available to us is from 2023 so in the state of Florida um 18.4% 4% of all children 0 to 18 are considered food insecure and that is up 2.7% from 2020. Um, and when last I
checked, 2023 was the most recently available data year to us. Specifically in Florida, that means there's over 800,000 food insecure children in our state. The average meal cost $3.69.
Um, and it would cost over $2.2 2 billion to fill in that gap, if you will, for the state for all children in the state. This is up from 660 children statewide in 2020. And the average meal cost also up 30 cents. And just based on my own
personal grocery bill, I know that probably in the last two years that um average meal cost has risen even further. Specifically here in Bradford County, we've seen um food insecurity specifically for children rise over 24%
since 2020. That means there's over 1,400 children in Bradford County alone who don't know frequently don't have enough access to food, don't know where their next meal is going to come from. It's 25.3% of all children in Bradford County.
That's where Food for Kids steps in. So, we were invited to Bradford County by a group of um concerned citizens, a local church in Lahi um that had been working with Catholic Charities out of Queensville and they could no longer
afford to run the program here for Lah Elementary School. So, Ayanna Patterson with the health department and the minority equity uh task force um invited food for kids to come and have a meeting and talk about serving Bradford County students. And so we have been working
with Brad County students since then about three years now. Um so our program works directly with the schools. So we rely on schools to identify who those chronically chronically hungry children are, refer those children to us, get
consent from the family to accept these bags um and then we provide the bags every week. So in Elatcha County, we pack centrally out of our warehouse. Um but in Bradford, Levy and Dixie counties, we actually provide all the food, all of the bags. Um and Bradford
County residents are the ones packing the bags, delivering them to the schools, um and making sure that children here in Bradford County are being fed every single weekend. Um this is an example of what our referral and consent forms look like. So they're very
low barrier. We want families to not feel the stigma that sometimes goes along with needing services. Um and so we ask again our liaison and anyone in the school from you know the janitor to the principal is able to refer a child
to us if they are seeing signs and symptoms of chronic hunger. So they fill out that enrollment form. We have a liaison, a school employee who's been identified in each school who collects these referral forms and sends a consent home form to the family. Um, and then
collects those consent forms back and sends it to our enrollment coordinator. Our enrollment coordinator here in Bradford County is Candace Ostein. You may know her. She seems to know everyone. Um, but she does a phenomenal job of encouraging the schools to refer students to us, managing all of those
referrals, communicating with Ayanna how many bags we need each week, working directly with Blake Dicks with the school system um to make sure that we have access to be able to pack and distribute the bags. Each one of our weekend bags contains
about 28 uh meals. So, we're covering dinner Friday, breakfast, lunch, and dinner Saturday and Sunday, plus snacks. Each bag provides meals for up to four children in the home. So, if you have one kid, two kids, three kids, you're getting one bag every weekend. And if
you have more, four or more children, you may be getting two or more bags every weekend. Um, these are some examples of um packing bags and boxes inside of our warehouse, but also uh this is a last I believe it was last spring break. These are the boxes that
we delivered to Bradford Elementary and we had Bradford County Fire Rescue's assistance with delivering our spring break boxes to the other five schools that we serve here. If you're curious about what goes in the bags, this is uh two different examples.
So, we actually pack on a fiveweek rotation. The goal is that every single week the kids are getting a little something different. they're not getting bored. Um, and that it provides variety for them so they'll continue to eat the food that we're sending. Um, we work with partners like the Florida Peanut
Federation and Hunger Fight out of Jacksonville. Florida Peanut Federation provides all of our peanut butter. Uh, Hunger Fight provides our brown sugar oatmeal and also what we call dry sides. So, these are going to be things like cheesy rice, cheesy mac, redoni, beans
and rice um that help supplement fats. But again, breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus snacks um for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I want to mention that in in addition to the bags that go home every weekend during the school year for longer breaks
from school, so our most recent Thanksgiving break, upcoming winter break, and spring break, um we actually packed regional boxes. So, while we know that, let's, you know, use Thanksgiving as a recent example, there are so many wonderful
organizations and faith-based groups that provide um, you know, holiday baskets. So, the turkey and all of the fixings for that one meal, but our goal is to feed that family and those children all of the other meals when they're away from school. um when
families are having to provide food, when kids are used to getting breakfast and lunch at school um and maybe don't have the resources to do that. So, we do pack these boxes um in Elatcha County and then I I personally drive the 26ft box truck. I know it's hard to believe,
but I personally drive the 26 foot box truck here um through Bradford Elementary and then we distribute all the boxes to the different schools from there this school year. So, right now, these numbers are as of last night, um we're serving over 1,300 students across all
four of our um counties. 167 of those children are right here in Bradford County. Now, at the end of every school year, we do survey the parents and caregivers of the children in our program. We want to know um how this food is benefiting
them. If it's not benefiting them, why? What would they like more of? what would they like less of? What would they need in order to become more food secure so that they will hopefully not need us any longer? That's the goal. Um, and so here's some of the feedback that we've
received on our surveys over the years. typically things like my kids are less hangry or they're doing better in school, they're having fewer absences, they're getting better street sleep, um they are there's a lot less stress about breakfast and snacks because those
things are not things that I could normally provide. And this is one of my favorite quotes we've ever received on one of our surveys. I'm going to read it to you. This program has been a big help to my family. Even though our family received SNAP benefits, there were times when there were no benefits left for the
month and the Food for Kids program stepped in and provided when we didn't have enough food in the home to last until more benefits were received. Truly a blessing. So, this quote is from years ago. This not recent um but it speaks to
the gaps in the system that Food for Kids backpack program is really trying to help them. Um, and so I'd love to tell you a little bit more about ways that Bradford County residents um, and Bradford County government can get more involved um, and
help us spread the word about this program right here. So um, we do collect donations of food um, through food drives from all over. So we would love to have food drives hosted here in Brad County to help support county students
specifically. Um, but the vast majority of the food that we're packing in these bags, we purchase bulk um from national food distributors. And so, again, another real life example, using my own children, my kids love Chrispic cereal, but at Publix, Crispic cereal is $7.99 a
box, family size box, but still $8 a box for cereal. If you catch it on a BOGO, you're still paying $4 a box, right? Um, but if I were to give if I were to buy two boxes at $8, it would be $16. If I gave that $16 to Food for Kids backpack
program, I could turn that into 10 boxes of cereal. So, because we're buying by the pallet in bulk, we are able to stretch donor funds even further um to buy more food that we can then turn around and send home with kids. Um, we are not government funded. We're we
don't receive any federal, state, or even local funding at this time. Um, I write grants. I talk to folks like you. I talk to folks in the community. I've met with your Kuanas Club and your Rotary Club locally um to try to start getting some financial support from
Bradford County residents specifically for Bradford County students that are enrolled in our program. So, a couple things I want to leave you with ways to get involved with us. We are having an inaugural golf tournament in February. We would love to have local businesses
sponsor and golf in that tournament. Um we would love for anyone interested um civic organizations, school organizations, businesses to sponsor food drives. Um and we can provide all of the materials necessary to do that. A shopping list, a
donation bin, pickup delivery, whatever you need. Um we also need volunteers right here in Bradford County to help us pack and deliver those bags on a weekly basis. Um, and so Ayanna Patterson is the person here in Bradick County that
arranges all of those volunteer efforts. Um, and finally, I'd like to ask for your consideration when you're planning in your budget for next fiscal year um to consider um some sort of appropriation for the food for kids backpack program specifically here in
Bedford County. And lastly, I would like to invite all of you um elected officials, anyone who would like to come see what we do um in action to our warehouse in Gainesville on January 30th. We'll be hosting an open house. You'll get hands-on experience with
packing the bags. You'll get to learn more about our program and see it. Um when you see what we do and where we do it, it makes a really big impact. I'm the only employee that this organization has or has ever had. Everything that
gets done for children in our community is done by volunteers. And so I invite you to please join us that morning. We'll have some snacks and we will pack some bags um and learn more about the children. And I will leave you um with this note of gratitude we received from
a student. Thank you for the food, Andrew. Thank you. >> Thank you so very much. M I just have a quick question >> on your the surveys that you send out. What is the percentage of the responses
that you get back? I'm just curious how u you know if those are coming back and the way they come back and certainly some gratitude for you know what you >> Absolutely. Yes. So historically we've had very poor response rates on our
survey. Um, over the last several years that I've been with the organization, that has been a big goal for me is to increase that those response rates so that we have data that's actionable. So, I use the information we get from those surveys to decide what we're packing in the next school year and how much of it
we're packing. I'll give you a real life example. We were told by our families that getting a can of beans every single week was too many beans. So, we cut it back to one can of bean once a month, right? Um, so our response rate last year was close to 90% of all of our families. We
send it via text, via email. We sent it in QR codes in our bags that went home to the families themselves. And we incentivize participation by getting public gift cards donated and raffling three $100 public gift cards um or you know creating an entry. If you fill out
the survey, you can be entered to win one of three $100 public gift cards. And that worked really well. Thank you. >> Thank you for watching. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so very much. >> Thank you. Have a lovely day. Um board before we um move to well we'll
move to an exact action item for the DOT of projects but just a correction to one two three the one that says northeast 100 125 that should be northwest so you can
it's northwest row 125 from county line to All right. Um, so this is a our project list for the DOT projects and so I'm call for a motion for approval. Mr.
thoughts is going to come up and talk us a little bit about >> these are the same projects we solicited for last year for funding and we didn't receive any of them. Um we actually did receive the north east uh county road
125 from 301 to down to that ends ators. Um but these are the same projects as last year and uh the priority level still ranks the highest right now. Um, and also just to make y'all aware that if we are funded for this, it would be
funded in 2030. >> I'll make a motion to approve the project priority list. >> Um, motion by Commissioner Dory to approve the project priority list. Second by Commissioner Rev. Any further questions on discussion board? If not all in favor by the sign I
>> I oppose 5 and next um action item of the pest control bill the recommendation um not pest control and I'll turn it over to M. >> Thank you madam chairman. The uh this
item concerns the RFP that was put out for pest control. We received two bids back. Uh one was Knox Pest Control. The other was uh an unres bid that was nonresponsive. So, uh it's up to the
board at this point to determine how to move forward with the award of the contract. >> Madam Chair, excuse me, Mr. Cornier. >> Yes, sir. >> Can you explain why it was nonresponsive? So it was non-responsive the um on I
believe two items or three three items. One was the cover page where the company was identified itself in terms of the name of the company, the address of the company and the principles and and and then also one of the other items was uh
that was required was submission of certification of insurance. They provided none of that. And then the third nonresponsive item was right. Right. So those were the two items we'll
have to look for the well actually there were two more. One was the question of frequency. how often they would treat and rather than provide uh different levels of frequency, they provided a single level of frequency which was quarter uh which
was nonresponsive. And then the the fourth item was right. So the the packet was not not put together. It was essentially pieces of the packet. So that's why the review committee determined it to be nonresponsive
>> and all the requirements were clearly in the the the bid package. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. >> And um it was my understanding that the the information that did come forward the person that you're recommending or the company that you're recommending was
actually providing more services at a much lower rate. >> That's correct. Yes. Any other questions from the board? >> Just a comment. I mean, um, we've talked about this before with other companies
and have an opportunity. I think Mr. Doy is one that that said that when they put these these things together has to be complete and when they submit it, there should be no questions. I think we turned down one gentleman on a contract
because there was one item that was left off. So I think that it's very important that we um you know treat everyone the same. Any other questions? Um um just call for a motion for approval
for the uh contractor that has been recommended to the board. Not motion to approve the office. Yes. Motion by commission commission Andrews is a second to the motion
second by commission ready. Any further questions or discussion? If not all in favor by the sign I >> I oppose. >> Thank you madam chair. Thank you for reporting.
At this time, I'll recognize director Daniel. >> Good morning, board. >> Good morning. At this time, I would like to present the budget amendments and resolutions for fiscal year 24 and uh 2024 to 2025 for your approval. Uh
first, we have the 2025 budget amendments. Um, as you know, when preparing a budget, we use our best estimation based on the information we have at the time. Similar to previous years, some line items went over budget and other line
items stayed under budget. The budget amendments you see before you are simply adjusting the budgeted amounts within a fund, so there are fewer line items that are over budget. Making these budget amendments um within each fund will enhance your overall budget to actual
figures. Um, I ask that you please approve the budget amendments before you at this time. >> I'll call for a motion for approval of the budget amendments that are presented to us today that >> make a motion to approve the budget
amendments. >> Motion by commissioner. Is there second motion? >> Second Andrews. Any further discussion? Questions? All in favor by the side. I >> I any opposed? I vote.
>> Okay. Next, we have uh the eight budget resolutions for 2025. Most of these are a result of revenue received from grants that were not included in the original budget, while others were additional unanticipated revenues that led to additional expenditures. Um so, I will
now read the title of each resolution into the record for your consideration and approval. And I believe I I read each one of the each one and then you approved at the end. Okay. The first one I have is it's
$118,000 for the Florida D vulnerability assessment grant. Resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida approving $118,000 increase in revenue and expenditures in the general fund.
Uh the second one I have is $146,348 for a road department um 5 cent local option fuel tax and additional revenue. A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County,
Florida, approving a $146,348 increase in revenue and expenditures in the road department fund. Number three is a $645,161 increase for the road department. This is an additional fund balance carried forward.
A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida, approving a $645,161 increase in revenue and expenditures in the road department fund. Number four is $128,520
for the fire rescue hospital waittime revenue. A resolution of the board of county commissioners in Brackford County, Florida approving $128,520 increase in revenue and expenditures in the fire rescue budget.
Uh number five is $39,4114 for the fire rescue pt additional revenue. A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bracker County, Florida, approving a $39,114 increase in revenue and expenditures in
the fire rescue fund. Number six is $11,450 for fire rescue standby services revenue. a resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida, approving a $11,450
increase in revenue and expenditures in the fire rescue fun. All right. Number seven is $21,290 for fire rescue equipment sales proceeds revenue. A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Brford County, Florida,
approving a $21,290 increase in revenue and expenditures in the fire rescue fund. Lastly, we have a $135,000 to EMS state grant for cardiac monitors.
A resolution of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida, approving a $135,000 increase in revenue and expenditures in the fire escape fund. We have all the resolutions that read by Miss
for a motion for approval of the resolutions. Make a motion to approve the resolutions as read. >> Motion by commissioner second to the motion. Second by commissioner Andrews. Any further discussion, questions?
All in favor by the sign. Any opposed? >> Thank you. Anything else for the clerk's office? Um, guess I couldn't wait, but I'm just going to say it now. As we're moving forward with our budget for um this
coming year, um I'm asking if we can take a look at uh what our potential revenue would be from homestead properties and uh as we're looking into um to developing the workshop that we look at what um our budget would look
like if we did not have those funds so that we will begin a proactive approach to planning properly to see what may happen because we won't really know what our budget is until actually next November.
>> Yes, ma'am. And and we're watching and and looking out for information as it comes in from the state on what they're going to do with this in constraint counties. There's a lot of discussion. Um there's proposals that are being considered and we're watching that to see, you know, what they're going to
finalize that could impact our revenue. We may not lose the full amount, but know that making some loss. So, we are watching it um and and actively trying to see what's coming down the pipe legislation. >> Yes, ma'am. And madam chair, if I may,
uh we actually the county manager's office actually sent out an email yesterday to the property appraiser and the clerk of the courts asking for the information that you just just articulated. So, uh we'll we'll start to compile that. And Miss Rhden is correct. She and I have conversations weekly
about this matter. I forward her information that I get from the small county coalition and other sources and tell so that there's a a clear-cut communication between the clerk's office, county manager's office. >> Thank you so much. And and just to add to that, I mean, if you if you just take
bottom line number, get about 15 million from you did away with that. That's 15 million you're paying for the budget. But we know that today, we know that now. But we're hoping that, you know, we
won't lose that full amount. That's what we're we're wanting to watch from the state. >> Okay. Thank you. Um any report from the sheriff department? >> Anything for us? Sheriff has no report. >> I think you have a party or something
has coming up, right? Or or there's um shot with the kids. >> Yes. But we do uh have our holidays of a heroes event. Um and we we we rebranded that when the sheriff's office took it over. Um shop with the cop as it was known for many years. The police department did a great job at it. Uh but
we rebranded as holidays but heroes. Um because we uh you know the law enforcement is not the only one who goes with the kids. We we try to get fire rescue, our military, healthcare workers, local government leaders. So, um, December 16th and 18th about 8:00 in
the morning, 8:30 in the morning, um, if you're free, uh, please feel free to come by and see it. It's it's a really cool event. If you've never been, um, and if you can't make it to to participate with us, I definitely wouldn't go do much shopping then because we'll probably have about 200 plus kids running around Walmart. Um,
but it's a great event. It's really fun. So, um, definitely invited, you know, all of our all of our leadership if uh, you'd like to come out, we'd love to have you there. Thank you. What day was that on? On 16th and 18th.
>> 16th and 18th. >> Thank you. County manager report. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple of things we need to talk about. First of all is uh item A under the county manager reports approval for administrative staff to expedite the fire assessment role adjustment process
as needed. Of course, this will still come before the board. uh under the consent agenda, but this will allow staff to go ahead and move forward with the with the administrative piece through the tax collector's office. Um we would just need consensus to move
forward with that. >> Consensus to do so. >> Yes. >> All right. Very good. We have consensus for administrative staff to uh expedite fire assessment role adjustment process as needed. Another thing to mention is on
Friday, this Friday, December 5th, we will have a groundbreaking ceremony at station 8 and also an open house at station 9. The groundbreaking will begin at 10:30 in Brooker and then the open
house will commence at 11:30 in Samson City. So, uh we would like uh to ask everyone to attend. and there will be ref refreshments provided and we'll get to celebrate these two milestones in our fire and rescue department. Another thing I'd like to mention is the
burn ban. Um, Captain Whit, I believe we imposed You already left, didn't you? >> Um, we imposed that last week, I believe last Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Uh, still in effect. The little bit of rain that we got overnight had no effect
on the conditions. Um, so we will, uh, the burn ban will remain in place until until staff determines that, uh, we need to make a recommendation to remove it. Uh, another thing I'd like to report is November 30th, this past week. I guess
that would have been Sunday, was Chief Carter's 18th anniversary with the Bradford County Fire and Rescue Department. He is not here today. He's in Orlando at a training session. But we would like to recognize Chief Carter's service and all the contributions that
he has made to Bradford County and the Bradford County Fire and Rescue Department. >> That is all I have, Madam Chair. >> Yes, thank you. And and just an important thing, the burn ban being in place in many of the surrounding counties had it in place. We did it. And with everything being drive the chip
around, it's so important and people are still learning. So we we need to make sure we enforce it. >> Thank you. Um Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. Um following up
on our previous conversation about the property tax issue. That certainly is something to monitor very closely because it's I do think it's an existential threat to not only this county but other counties that our um our firm is involved with and
represents. And we've certainly uh shared what we know um in our experience as a firm with those uh in the legislature uh about how critical um these these funds are uh to get the basics of
blocking and tackling accomplished for the people uh for the state of Florida. Um I would not take a lot of um comfort in this idea of being held harmless either because understand that um even if that
revenue is replaced there's no guarantee that that would be replaced at that same level or you know as time goes on and also know um as we all know um that um you
know I can say as someone who served been elected office that as a county commissioner you're always subject to the state and as a state you're always subject to the federal government, right? And anytime you're having to interact with the uh government that um
is provoke the government that you're in uh and and ask for money or advocate for money. there always were strings attached um where that then allows that government to
dictate certain terms to receive the money and all the things that come. So it's not just an amount, it's what do you have to do to get it. Um so those two issues are very concerning I think if uh you're a local government. Um, and
uh, I certainly know that your representatives in Tallahassee understand the concerns that I've just articulated. >> Thank you so much. >> Does this have comments from the commissioners?
And >> well, I just want to thank everyone for being here today. Um and um just want to remind everyone of all that as this season starts, we get ready for Christmas to remember the
reason what Christmas really means is the birth of Jesus Christ. And um there's a lot of people that um that have needs and I just ask that you kind of reach out and try to help others
during this season. Thank the board for everything that we do and um >> thank you everyone for being here today and uh looking forward to see everybody December 5th. >> I know it's been brought up a couple of
times but just continued prayers from this body very very tough situation. So again, keep our prayers. Um, Senator Brownley, you touched a lot on, you know, some things that I want to talk about as the chairman of the small county coalition
and then the recent uh board association of counties legislative conference that we had. It's two weeks ago now. Yeah, there's a a lot of discussion, a lot of proposals out there. There still a lot of unknowns. And I think one thing
that Miss Spooner had mentioned is when we start to look at the items that could be cut. I think it's important that the public realizes the same thing. So when it comes to a vote
that they understand, you know, what they're voting for services, they're voting for, for instance, the young lady with food bank asking for appropriations from the county. We give a lot of money out. I say a lot. I mean, you know,
considering, you know, the small county that we are, those programs go away. uh the library, you know, up here talking about their program, those programs get cut and possibly eliminated altogether. And so I just think it's important that
people really dig down deep and realize just as we are in the Florida Association of Counties and the impact that it will have. Ralph Thomas with uh Wella County Commissioner there a really good job digging deep and
and bringing these issues to our attention. I'm going to attend their county commission meeting. They're doing a workshop Monday evening and just, you know, try to get an idea of, you know, what they're looking at. I think it's going to be the same type of things that we're looking at. We're about the same
size as Walke County. I think they beat us by about four or 5,000 people as far as population. But again, I just want to get a clear understanding of what we're going to be faced with and be able to get that message out. Again, I mean, we all pay
taxes, right? We pay property taxes and, you know, where it uh again, you know, sounds very appealing. It's just, you know, what is it that you want to do without, you know, just to figure out? How could you be able to backfill out
anyway? And then, uh, board, I want you all to know probably forgotten more about development than people know or will know involved with a lot of associations. So, I hear about things very early on. And so, you know, for for
anyone to come in here, make an accusation, me calling somebody a liar is just totally false. And and like I said, I I I've known about these projects. I know about other projects in our surrounding counties because I'm
involved in some differentations. So, very disappointing to to hear that. And I want you all to know that fully aware of what's going on. And I'm fully aware that when those types of things do develop, understand that it's not just
the homes that it's the shopping centers, the gas stations, and all of those things that that that come along with that. So again, I'm I'm fully aware. So just, you know, please keep that in mind when it comes to whether it's development, Mr. Dods can tell you,
when it comes to roadways, transportation, I'm pretty involved with that stuff. I would never uh first of all never, you know, outright call anybody a liar. I may say that uh that information is not
correct. You might want to look into that. U but you for the most part, like I said, that's that's that's not my approach and you know, for that to come up again, it's very disappointing. especially publicly and uh because
that's nothing that I've ever said and unless there's an email or a text then you know I suggest you know anybody that says it anyway that's all I have to say and uh I
appreciate you all was recognized at small county coalition uh for her involvement in the legislature that comes uh with redistricting and uh uh she's been a very big part of that and uh she was recognized and was proud to have her
there with us and uh representing RA again. Thank you, Mr. Stewart. >> Thank you. And um just um I want to express my appreciation to our board members. Everybody has a role. Um
Commissioner Dorty is he's our he's our man with the Florida Association of Counties and the Small Counties Coalition. I was proud of him uh in facilitating the meeting. He's the president and chair um and did an excellent job. Um but each
person has a role and sometimes our community doesn't know how many different things that we're involved in. U Commissioner Andrews, she was at the economic development uh conference there in Otala while we were at the
legislative session in Tampa. This fellow here, Commissioner Ray, used his own physical labor. He was down clearing and helping to um demolish the um helping with the bathrooms down
at the recreation. He's been very involved with that on the community level because that's something that's really important um to his heart, whether it's to our community. So, each person has a role that they're playing. Um, Commissioner Thompson is involved
with um the Rafford um board there and I didn't know and I actually heard while I was in Tampa that they actually have um a fuel program where they use the waste material and then it is uh recycled back
and made into fuel. So there's a lot of things that um different ones are doing. Commissioner Reic with the um North Region Planning Council. There are a lot of things that I think that as we began to share those things with our
community, they will know it's not just coming up here once or twice a month for meetings. We're actively involved in our communities and doing things. And um with that the information that we learned at the legislative conference
was let's begin to proact proactively plan in our individual small rural communities what we're going to do strategize about what we're going to do this year. We're going to have we got a grant to have our strategic planning.
That's a critical part for our community getting input from all segments of our municipalities and from our business community, all of our partners throughout Graphic County. So, we'll be working closely um with the person in that role so that we um we have a
strategic plan, but we're going to take that and embellish it. we're going to just add to it and get that information from all of our partners. So, let us we we have to begin to also
dialogue with each other. We can agree, but we don't have to be disagreeable. We don't have to be offensive. You can share information with each other in a positive manner. We're not going to always agree, but we have information and roles and um expertise in certain
areas that we can can share. Um I want to um also just for information uh the Christmas parade for the city of Stark is going to be next not this weekend but the next weekend on the
13th. So if you can participate uh do so and also the following weekend uh on the 20th will be lousy. Um so as much as we can participate with all of our community activities um is good and going down to the library. Now, um just
I'm just so thankful uh for the opportunity to serve in our community and to give back to our community um that I want to just do all I can while I have breath and um the ability to do that. And I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and um we look forward to
you all being able to celebrate this coming season um for Christmas. So with that, thank you all and the meeting is adjourned.